Ask Us Anything About GMOs!

I've seen in some of your responses that you support labeling of GM products. Will you support I-522?

Question Submitted By: SaveMyFood from San Antonio, Texas ** Questions submitted to GMO Answers appear as written at the time of submission.
Questions are reviewed to ensure they conform with our house rules, but are never edited or altered by GMO Answers.

By: Cathleen Enright, Executive Director of the Council for Biotechnology Information on Friday, 10/04/2013 2:00 pm

As you mention, we support voluntary, market-based labeling. It¹s also important that any label be consistent and science based.

I-522 is a Washington State initiative that does not meet those criteria. It isn’t market-based, voluntary and certainly isn’t based on science. In addition, I-522's poorly written requirements and special exemptions would provide inconsistent and misleading information to consumers about the foods they buy. These are the reasons many of our member companies are part of a broad and growing coalition of Washington scientists, doctors, family farmers, food producers, grocers, businesses and citizens who oppose I-522. To learn more about the coalition’s perspective, visit www.FactsAbout522.com.

In addition, you might be interested in some of my previous responses where I’ve outlined our position on labeling in more detail (see here and here).

Executive Director of the Council for Biotechnology Information

Cathy is the executive director of the Council for Biotechnology Information. She is also the executive vice president for food and agriculture at the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Cathy earned her PhD in Biochemistry and completed her postdoctoral training at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine before becoming an agricultural trade and environment negotiator for the federal government in 1995. After her government service, Cathy worked for the produce industry before joining CBI and BIO in 2011. Cathy is a passionate advocate for all of US agriculture, and served on President Obama’s Agricultural Policy Committee in 2008 and again in 2012.